The
Banks Association of Turkey
was founded in 1958 in
accordance with the
provisions of Article 57 of
the Banks Act. The
Association bears a legal
entity and is the
representative body for all
the banks operating in
Turkey. The purpose of the
Association is to preserve
the rights and benefits of
banks, to carry on studies
for the growth of the
banking sector, for its
robust functioning and the
development of banking
profession, strengthening of
competition power, to take
the decisions/ensure that
they are taken to prevent
unfair competition, to
implement and demand
implementation of these
decisions, in line with the
principles of open market
economics and perfect
competition and the
regulations, principles and
rules of banking.
Organizational
Structure and Main Functions
of the
Associaiton
All banks operating in
Turkey are legally bound to
become members of the Banks
Association of Turkey. Banks
are represented in the
Association by either their
Chairman of the Board, or
the General Manager or the
Managing Director.
The organizational
structure of the Association
includes the General
Assembly, the Board of
Directors, the Auditors, and
the Secretariat under which
the operations of the
Association are executed
through several structural
and functional groups.
The General Assembly
meets once a year, and is
composed of the
representatives of member
banks whose voting power is
determined on the basis of
the proportion of their
total assets to the total
assets of the sector.
The Board, on the other
hand, consists of the
representatives of thirteen
banks, elected for a
two-year term by the General
Assembly which elects three
Auditors who also attend the
Board meetings.
The Chairman of the Board of
Directors shall be elected
by the Board of Directors
among the general managers
of the banks represented in
the Board of Directors. The
term of office of the
Chairman of the Board of
Directors shall be limited
with the term of office of
the Board of Directors.
Each Bank has the right to
cast one single vote.
The operations of the
Association are executed by
the Secretary General,
supported by structural and
functional units.
One of the duties of the
association is to represent
and protect the interests of
the sector before the
government authorities and
in the public opinion
serving as a bridge between
the government and its
members, stating its views
on draft legislation
considering the sector's
needs, while informing its
members of such
developments. It also serves
as a source of information
to which members may have
recourse as and when
necessary. A recent example
in this context is the
archive of all court rulings
related to banking, as well
as the archive in the form
of an indexed file of past
practices. Moreover, the
Association represents the
sector at national and
international meetings by
means of its "technical
teams". It keeps daily track
of legal, organizational,
and technological
developments in banking at
the international level,
determines the major
technological developments
that are applicable to the
banking sector in Turkey,
and informs its members
accordingly. Furthermore,
the Association establishes
and pursues systematic
contacts with international
organizations in the field
of banking, responds to the
training requirements of the
sector as a whole.
The functional units in
the Association are
structured as groups. The
functions of these groups
can be summarized as
follows;
-
Banking and Research
Group; to
work on the development
of opinions on subjects
requested by the
government authorities,
to represent the
Association in national
and international
commissions, to conduct
relations with
organisations like the
IMF, OECD, SWIFT, the
World Bank, EU, and the
banks associations of
other countries, to do
research for the
development of banking
as a profession, to
disseminate the results
of its research through
publications directed
towards its member
banks, government
authorities, and the
public at large, to keep
track of international
developments in the
field of banking and to
keep its member banks
informed on such
matters. The Library; is
serving under the
Banking and Research
Group and it provides
service in line with the
aims of the Associaiton. In order to
keep the library
specialized in the field
of banking, particular
attention is given to
ensure that
newly-published books
are acquired and
periodicals are
subscribed on the
subject of banking,
economy and finance for
the library. The library
is open for the use of
bankers, academics, and
graduate students.
-
Training and
Promotion Group;
to prepare and conduct
training programs in
order to meet the
demands of the banking
sector and to oversee
their progress.
-
Data Processing,
Statistics and
Technology Group;
to generate strategies
about the Association's
data processing
technolology, to
collect, verify and
publish statistical data
about the banking
sector, to coordinate
the projects that are
common to the banking
sector, and related to
information technology,
to follow up the
developments on
information technology.
-
Financial and
Administrative Affairs;
carrying out the
Association's in-house
administration, keeping
track of the
Association's books of
account, handling
personnel related
matters, conducting the
Association's
correspondence with its
members, government
authorities, and other
individuals and
organisations and
maintaining the records
in the archive.
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